The Devil Within Me
by ShadowHunter19
Summary: It is said that The Wolfman, Frankenstein, and Dracula all fear the legendary monster hunter Van Helsing but what they didn't tell you is they also fear his little sister Desdemona Van Helsing. Desdemona is a legendary monster hunter in her own right but she has a terrible secret. A secret that she has kept from everyone including her own brother. A secret that could condemn her.


A/N: Van Helsing/ Anna Valerious and Velkan Valerious/ OC  
>AN: All outfits, and such are on my profile page  
>AN: Italic is implied sarcasm.

Chapter 1: Her Secret

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><p>Transylvania 1887:Third Person P.O.V.<p>

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><p>Thunder roared as lightning shattered the night calamitous storm nearly drowning out the shouts of the crazed mob storming Castle Frankenstein.<p>

Dr. Victor Frankenstein took no notice as he concentrated on his grand experiment, his greatest triumph as a scientist. He gazed down at the enormous man strapped into an iron pod in front of him. The man wore a metal cap with electrical wires running from it up to the rafter and out to conductors on the roof.

All of Dr. Frankenstein's research and sacrifices had lead to this moment. He was so close. Just a few more seconds for the lighting to do it's work, and victory would be his.

Another crash of lighting;another pounding on the heavy wooden doors below. More shouts calling for his head. The scientist ignored it all, riveted by the man's tiny fluttering movements. Then-it happened. The man's eyes flew open. They locked onto Dr. Frankenstein's, and the scientist trembled. He felt as if the creature had peered into his very soul.

"He's alive!" Dr. Frankenstein cried, adding his voice to the mad chorus of sounds in the frantic night. He threw back his head and held his arms wide, chortling in glee.

"He's _aliiive_!"He cried again.

"Success!" A voice called out in the darkness.

Dr. Frankenstein spun around, startled and frightened. He had thought he was alone. Who could have gotten into is laboratory at the very top of his turreted castle?

A tall figure stepped forward out of the shadows.

"Ah, Count Dracula, it's you." Dr. Frankenstein pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his sweaty forehead.

"You caught me by surprise." He said nervously.

"I was beginning to lose faith, Doctor. " The count said.

"But I see you have achieved your marvelous dream." He continued.

A loud crash outside kept Dr. Frankenstein from replying. He hurried to the window and peered down. The townspeople below were pounding a sturdy tree trunk into his front door. He knew that it would not hold for much longer. He was stunned to see that there were hundreds of villagers, their fury clearly visible in the light from their flaming torches.

A scrawny man with a ragged white hair leapt up onto a boulder.

"You know what he is doing up there?" He shouted in a grating, high-pitched voice. He waved his battered top hat towards the turret.

"How he is experimenting with the bodies of your dearly departed! We must put a stop to him!" He shouted riling up the crowd.

" A pity your moment of triumph is being spoiled over a little charge of grave robbery." Dracula says to Dr. Frankenstein.

"One, two, three. Now!" The crowd shouted, ramming the tree into the heavy door once more. The man with the top hat crackled demonically. He practically danced on top of the boulder, firing up the crowd. Fear rushed through Dr. Frankenstein as he gazed at the enraged thong below him.

"Yes. Yes. I must escape this place." Dr. Frankenstein mutters.

He dashes across the lab and throws open a large trunk beside his desk.

"What so I take? What do I leave behind?" He mutters again. He stands and looks around the crowded laboratory, at a loss for how to proceed.

"Where are you going to run to?" Dracula asks, moving closer.

Instinctively, Dr. Frankenstein backs up, banging into the trunk. The Count has always made him nervous, and he was already on edge. Dracula, handsome, elegant, and imposing, radiated something even Dr. Frankenstein could not ignore. He reeked of **evil**.

"Your peculiar experiments have made you unwelcome in the civilized world, Victor." Dracula continued. his voice smooth and calm.

Dr. Frankenstein looked at the iron pod again. The man was watching his every movement. Dr. Frankenstein's heart clutched; there seemed to be such pleading in those recently dead eyes.

"I'll take him away. Far away, where no one will ever find him." Dr. Frankenstein says defiantly.

"He grabbed several books and turned to place in them in the trunk, but Dracula was suddenly right beside him. The Count stepped on the lid of the trunk, slamming it shut.

"No, Victor," Dracula countered. "The time has come for me to take command of him."

"What are you saying?" Dr. Frankenstein asks.

"Why do you think I brought you here? Gave you this castle? Equipped your lab?" Dracula asked waving his hands at Dr. Frankenstein's heavily equipped laboratory.

"Y-y-you said you believed in my w-work," Dr. Frankenstein stammered.

Dracula smiled."And I do. But now that you have completed your experiment, it is time for your work to serve my purpose." He said with a wicked smile upon his face.

"What purpose?" Victor asked shakily.

In one fluid movement, Dracula leapt up and perched in the rafters. Dr. Frankenstein mouth dropped open in astonishment and he started to back away.

"No," He gasped. "I would kill myself before helping you in any task."

"Feel free," Dracula said. "I don't actually need you anymore. I just need him." H gestured to the man in the iron pod. He dropped back down to the floor, inches from Dr. Frankenstein.

Dr. Frankenstein set his jaw and narrowed his eyes.

"Before I would allow him to be used for such evil, I would destroy him." He says bravely.

"I cannot allow that to happen," Dracula says. "My brides would be most upset."

Dr. Frankenstein knew he was trapped. He could never fight Dracula on his own.

"Igor!" He cried.

"Igor, help me!" He called frantically scanning his lab for his servant. He spotted the thuggish, misshapen hunchback up in the rafters. Igor pushed his long, straggly hair over his shoulder. He grinned, revealing his crooked, rotting teeth, contorting his grotesque features even more.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. You've been most kind to me. But if that mob catches me, they'll hang me all over again.

His panic rising, Dr. Frankenstein reaches back and grabbed a saber crossed over the Frankenstein coat of arms that hung on the wall above the mantel. He brandished the sword at Dracula.

"Stay back," He ordered.

The count walked straight towards Dr. Frankenstein. The scientist could only gape in astonishment as he watched Dracula continue his approach, impaling himself up to the hilt on the saber.

"You can't kill me, Victor." Dracula sneered. "I'm already dead."

Victor's stomach lurched as much from fear as from the horrible stench of death now emanating from the count. His knees buckled as he watched the Count's face grow pale and his teeth change into razor-sharp fangs.

"Say goodbye to your creator." Dracula hissed to the man strapped to the table. Then he sank his teeth into Dr. Frankenstein's neck.

"_Nooo_!" The man shouted.

The anguished cry behind him startled Dracula, and he dropped Victor to the floor. The scientist's creation burst from the straps holding him down.

"No!" He bellowed again

He hurled a heavy, metal coil at Dracula, smashing the Count in the head. Dracula stumbled backward into the fireplace, sending sparks and ashes flying everywhere. The huge man gathered Dr. Frankenstein's dead body in his arms.

"Father!" He wailed.

Instinct took over. Somehow the creature knew he had to protect himself and his creator. He lifted the limp body and charged out of the laboratory and out of the castle.

Igor raced to a balcony and watched the creature's progress. Down below, the villagers had broken through the doorway of the castle and were swarming inside. Others still hurled rocks up at the windows. Igor cupped his hands around his twisted mouth and shouted above their cries.

"Frankenstein has created a monster!" He cried.

No one seamed to hear him. No one but the thin man in the top hat perched on top of a large boulder. The man in the top hat looked up at Igor, then the direction Igor was pointing. An enormous man- no, a _monster_-was stumbling across the dark moor.

"Look!" He screamed, waving his top hat to get attention.

"Look! It's heading for the windmill!" He cried.

The villagers stopped their invasion of the castle and began to chase after the hulking figure in the night. The creature could hear the thudding footsteps, the shouts, the crackling fire of torches behind him and he ran as fast as he could. The damp mud of the moors slowed him down, but he fought against the clinging dirt and made it to the abandoned windmill. Still the mob chased him.

He burst through the windmill's shattered door and raced up thee rickety wooden staircase. He lumbered to the top of the windmill, still clutching the dead body of Dr. Frankenstein.

A crash of lightning illuminated him fora moment-every bolt, every stitch, every scar clearly visible to the crazed mob below. A small electrical storm was going off inside the back of his head as he tried to understand what was happening-and tried to fight the terror raging through him.

"Why?" Frankenstein's monster moaned . "Why?"

"Get him!" One of the mob shouted.

The creature's terror grew as the villagers hurled torches at the wooden windmill. A noose of flame leapt up the structure's walls. The monster roared in fear.

A shattering sound from across the moor ripped his attention from the glowing fire. The skylight in Frankenstein's castle had exploded. Dark shadows high up in the thunder-raked sky flew through the roiling purple clouds straight towards the windmill.

Gasps rippled through the mob. "Vampires! Run for your lives" One of them cried.

The huge crowd fled in horror across the moors. The flames surged up in the windmill, surrounding the creature. He gazed down at DR. Frankenstein's lifeless body and hugged him tightly to his enormous chest.

"Father!" The creature whispered. Then, with tears streaming down his scarred cheeks, he lifted a fist towards the oncoming vampires and let out a anguished bellow.

_BOOM! _The windmill imploded, the timber and gears and ironwork plummeting down on itself, taking the creature and Dr. Frankenstein down too. Flaming debris flew everywhere.

Dracula and his brides swooped down to the ground. Transforming quickly from their gigantic bat forms, the brides burst into tears, wailing with inhuman shrieks. Dracula staggered a few steps towards the flaming wreckage and could only stare in disbelief.

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><p>Transylvania 1 Year Later: Desdemona P.O.V.<p>

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><p>I gazed down at Spirit Strider, my midnight black stallion with a smile. I may be a wolf and condemned if some every found out like my good friends Anna and Velkan (They hunt werewolves) but I will not cower and hide I will live my life to the fullest.<p>

_"I'm just outside of Alba Transylvania. I could visit Velkan and Anna."_ I ponder riding along. _"Why the hell not."_ I think and with my mind set up I urge Strider towards the Valerious Castle.

After a few moments of walking Strider prances and strains his head, wanting to go faster. I laugh and give him full rein of his head. He bunches up his muscles, leaps forwards, stretches out his legs, pushing himself faster and faster. The country side flies by us. The hood on my cloak has long since blow off and my long, midnight, curled hair is flying straight back. I laugh as adrenaline and exhilaration rushes through my body. Suddenly the Valerious castle is looming up ahead and I have to pull Spirit back down into a trot.

As I trot up to the castle I see about a dozen men running back and worth loading equipment in to a carriage. I drop the rein on Striders's neck, dismount, turn him around and give him a small smack on his rump. He trots off into the woods. I then turn back around and try to spot Anna or Velkan.

"Dessa!" Prince Velkan, son of Boris Valerious, the dead king of the gypsies, shouts upon spotting me.

"Vel." I say with a smirk.

"Good to see you. How you been?" He asks walking over.

"Good. Good. " I say nonchalantly.

"_Really_? Been getting into trouble." He asks with a grin.

"Yup. You know me. Can't keep out of trouble." I say with a grin.

"Don't I know that." Velkan teases tousling my hair.

"Don't mess with the hair." I says narrowing my eyes at him menacingly.

"Whoa! Calm down, Horsey." He says raising his hands in surrender.

"Good boy." I says patting him of his chest.

"You know if you wanted to feel my chest, you could have just asked. " He says with a smug smirk at my blush.

"_Please_. Don't flatter yourself." I says walking away.

"Des!" Princess Anna shouts running out of the house and into my arms, almost knocking me down.

"Anna. Good to see you." I says regaining my balance and hug her back.

"Was Velkan being an ass again?" She asks with a glare at her brother.

"Yeah but it's fine because he's a sexy ass." I say quietly.

"You think I'm sexy and my ass is sexy too, huh." Velkan says with another smug smirk.

"Keep talking and I'm going to whip your ass." I say teasingly.

"Ohhh. Kinky." He say and I smack him.

"Ow! What was that for?" He says innocently but me and Anna ignore him and head into the house.

"So, What's up?" I ask looking at the men running around.

"Werewolf hunt!" Velkan calls from outside, hearing my question.

"Can I come?" I asks.

"Of course!" Anna exclaims.

"Already cleared a spot in the carriage for you. Figure you would want to come." Velkan calls and then goes back to shouting out orders. I stop and use the chance to check him out. He is tall and handsome. He has bronze colored skin, shoulder length silky brown hair and the warmest brown eyes I have ever seen.

"Can you please stop checking my brother out and listen to me." Anna says slightly annoyed.

"Sorry." I says ruefully looking down.

"You should tell him how you feel." Anna says encouragingly.

"No! It might ruin our friendship and I don't want that. Plus he doesn't feel the same way about me." I says sadly.

"He like you. You should tell him." Anna says confidently as she walks away before I can answer.

"Everybody load up!" She shouts commandingly.

"My lady." Velkan says and holds out a hand to help me into the carriage.

"No need." I says and whistle. A moment later Strider trots out of the woods and up to me. I mount and turn to Velkan.

"Ready." I say with a smug smirk at his face.

"Is that Spirit Strider?" Anna asks coming up behind Velkan.

"Yup. He's all grown up." I says proudly.

"He looks great." They chorus.

"All right. Let's head out." Anna calls getting into the front of the carriage.

Velkan mounts his Blue Roan Stallion named Black Hawk.

"Let's see if you and Strider can keep up with Hawk and me." Velkan says and takes off at a gallop. I urge Strider into a gallop, he leaps and takes off. We soon catch up to Black Hawk and Velkan. I urge Strider faster and soon we are way ahead of them. I slow him down into a trot and let Velkan catch up.

"Did you let me win?" I ask.

"Yes but I only did it because we need to set up in the small clearing ahead. I'll really race you some other time." Velkan says.

"Deal." I says and stop Strider just inside the clearing.

"Alright Men. You know what to do. Hop to it!" Anna shouts jumping out of the carriage.

"When did you become so bossy?"I ask Anna teasingly.

"Since you left two years ago." Anna says and I feel a flash of guilt. As the men set up I go over to help Velkan.

"Here let me." I says and start to redo the knot. I give the knot one last yank and step back.

"Alright all you have to do is slip your hands in and hold on." I says.

"Thanks." He says nodding and looking at the pole.

"Be careful." I whisper.

"I will and watch Anna." Velkan says with a small smile and turns to get in position.

I turn and walk away but at the last minute turn around and shout "Velkan!" while running back. He turns around and waits for me. I run to him, close my eyes and crash my lips into his. After a moment I feel his lips move against mine. I run my fingers through his silky hair relishing in the feeling of his lips on mine and his hands pulling me close and caressing my back and hair. We pull away and lean our foreheads together. I breath in his woodsy, horsey scent and relax.

"Please be careful!" I beg still out of breath.

"I will. I promise and I **never** break a promise." Velkan huffs out, letting me go.

I nod and watch him get into position on the pole then walk slowly back to where Anna and the crew is hiding.

"_**Finally**_!" Anna exclaims when I reach her. I laugh and give her a hug.

"We can celebrate later right now we have a job to do." I says turning to watch Velkan. Right now I am so thankful for my advanced hearing, so I can hear everything that is going on.

Velkan tensed at a crackling in the bushes just beyond the clearing. His head whipped in the direction of the sound. His movement forcing his wrists to strain against the straps that bound him to the post. Another branch creaked. Leaves rustled. I can tell Velkan's every sense has heightened as he wait for the inevitable attack.

"Show yourself." He murmured.

He catches his breath as the massive ten foot tall beast appeared, creeping along a thick low branch, it's yellow eyes boring into Velkan's, it's sharp fangs and claws glistening as it prepared to attack. The dreaded werewolf.

The creature hunkered down, gathering it's energy, preparing to lunge. Velkan's brown eyes narrow, my heart races.

"Come on. Dracula unleashed you for a reason." He muttered.

The werewolf leapt!

At the last possible moment Velkan ripped his hands from their bindings, and vaulted himself onto of the post. _Wham!_ The werewolf slammed into it, exactly where Velkan had hung only moments ago, attempting to lure the beast to attack. The animal dug it's claws into the post and glared up at Velkan, fury flashing in it's eyes. I curse Velkan and continue to watch the werewolf's every move. Velkan grabs the thick vines hanging above the post. He wraps them around his wrists.

"Now!" He cries.

The men hidden the bushes with us pull the lever. The vines around around Velkan's wrists go taut, and they jerk him up above the pole. After a moment, he came to an abrupt stop.

"What's wrong?" Velkan and I shout at the same time.

"It's stuck!" On of the men shout from the bushes.

"The lever is stuck!" They shout again.

Velkan and I glance down at the werewolf gripping the pole below him, as it prepared to jump again.

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><p>Third Person P.O.V.<p>

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><p>A movement in the bushes near the lever catches Velkan's eye. Two gorgeous young women, one wearing a close-fitting red and black jacket over a white blouse, black pants, and black leather heeled boots with her sword drawn. The other has on skinny leather black ripped pants, a red blouse, a black corset over the blouse, black and gold studded heel with one of her swords also drawn.<p>

A man behind them grips their arms, trying to drag them back. "No!" The man cries. "The werewolf will kill you both!" The women yank their arms out of the grasps.

"That's my bother out there!" Anna cries.

"That's my best-friend slash boyfriend out there!" Desdemona cries and they both rush all the way out. The werewolf growls as it attention goes from Velkan to the women.

"Anna, Dessa! Go back!" Velkan shouts.

I roll my eyes and says to Anna "He should know that him yelling at us isn't going to stop us. " Without a word in reply but a small smile, Anna brandishes her sword charges at the werewolf.

The beast snarls viciously and jumps down from the pole. It landed and instantly plummeted through the camouflage mesh covering the ground. At the same moment, a man in the bushes swung an axe. It crashed down onto the ropes attached to the lever. A huge iron cage ripped out of the ground around the pole, and was pulled high into the air. The werewolf was trapped inside of it.

Still clinging to the vines, Velkan drew his silver revolver. He aimed it at the rising cage, trying to keep steady on the swinging vine. As the cage pulled up next to Velkan, the werewolf slammed against the side of the cage's bars. The force of the movement knocked the cage straight into Velkan, and his gun went flying.

"Oh no! My gun!" Velkan cries peering down at the ground.

The cage slammed to a stop way up in the trees. It swung wildly back and forth as the werewolf howled and flung itself against the bars. The ropes holding it aloft creaked and snapped.

"Find my gun!" Velkan shouts frantically. Down below, Anna and Desdemona desperately looked around. Several men charge out of the bushes, ready their rifles and take aim at the cage.

"No!" Anna shouts, shoving a man aside, causing his shot to go wild.

"We must find Velkan's gun! We can only use the silver bullet!" Anna says searching for Velkan's gun.

Anna and Desdemona hear another rope snap. They peer up to the treetops and grasp. The cage was hanging from a single rope! Their wide brown and blue eyes scanning the clearing.

"There it is!" Anna cries and races towards the sparkling silver gun lying on the other side of the clearing. She made it halfway across the grass when - _wham_- the huge cage slammed onto the ground in front of her, blocking her from the gun. The cage buckled and splintered, and the werewolf burst out of it. Anna whirls around and runs, her long brown wavy hair steaming out behind her.

"Come on!" Anna shouts to Desdemona and she whirls around and catches up to Anna. They hold hands and head for the forest, but they knew the werewolf was right behind them.

They pump their legs harder and harder, as they left over tree roots and ducked under branches. They burst out of the other side of the forest and came to a sudden gasping stop. One more step and they would have flown right over the edge of the cliff. A loud crash from behind them made them freeze. They slowly turn around and their mouths drop open. Trees and bushes flew into the air as the enormous werewolf cleared a path towards them.

Anna and Desdemona back up and gripped their swords. The werewolf charged out of the bushes heading straight towards them. As Desdemona and Anna clutch their swords tighter, Velkan comes barreling down the path towards them and shoves them to the ground.

Desdemona instinctively curls her body around Anna, protectively shielding her from any damage. They hear Velkan fire his silver gun over and over again as the creature howls in pain. But when we scrambled to our feet, the werewolf and Velkan had both vanished from sight. All that was left was the silver gun lying on the ground, still smoking.

"Velkan!" Desdemona screams and then falls to the ground crying.

"Oh, Velkan." Anna moans, staring over the cliff where he must have fallen along with the werewolf. Slowly, painfully, she stood up. She brushed her long dark hair out of her eyes and tried to remain strong.

"Can I have his gun?" Desdemona asks after getting herself together.

"Sure." Anna says looking at Des sadly.

Later that night the area surrounding the Valerious Castle was filled with mournful howls. Desdemona sat, lifted her muzzle to the sky, and let out a mournful, grief stricken howl that stabbed Anna straight through the core.


End file.
